SC accepts apology of Vawda, Kamal in contempt case

Court warns two lawmakers to be careful in future

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Friday accepted the unconditional apology from Senator Faisal Vawda and National Assembly Member Mustafa Kamal in the contempt of court case and withdrew the show-cause notices issued to them over their press conferences last month.

The court declared that the members of parliament regretted their action and it was hoped that they would be careful in the future. However, the bench warned if such actions were repeated in the future, then even the unconditional apology would not be accepted.

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and including Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi heard the contempt of court case against Vawda and Kamal. The court accepted the unconditional apology tendered by the two lawmakers and dropped the contempt of court proceedings.

During the hearing, Vawda expressed his gratitude and said that this would not happen again. He said that a judge called him “a proxy”, which caused him a lot of pain. The chief justice remarked that if he had not started first, the second thing would not have happened.

The chief justice remarked that the judges respected parliament and expected a little respect, if not more, for the judiciary as an institution. He added that personally, he was not in favour of the contempt of court proceedings but took the notice at the request of a fellow judge.

During the hearing, the AGP told the court that PTI leader Raoof Hassan also held a press conference against the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court.

When the chief justice asked the AGP about the contents of the press conference, he said that since the court proceedings were being broadcast live, he would not repeat the words stated during that press conference.